MisterDrBob Presents: The Fantastic Four
by MisterDrBob
Summary: When Reed Richards' mission to Mars is sabotaged by spies from the kingdom of Latveria, he and his crew of friends find themselves with fantastic powers and pitted against Latveria's mysterious dictator.


**MisterDrBob Presents: Fantastic Four**

Summary: My Fantastic Four continuity. When Reed Richards' mission to Mars is sabotaged by spies from the kingdom of Latveria, he and his crew of friends find themselves with fantastic powers and pitted against Latveria's mysterious dictator.

Disclaimer: Fantastic Four and all related characters are owned by Marvel and the Disney Corporation.

Chapter 1: Fantastic

"Fantastic, isn't it?" Reed Richards asked, a little smugly. He stood in his lab at the top floor of the Baxter Building in the heart of Manhattan.

"It certainly is impressive Dr. Richards. But I still don't understand how you're so sure that this craft will safely carry a human being to Mars without any sort of testing at all," General Smith said, looking at the spacecraft in question. The craft was not in the lab, it was at the launch site. What the General was looking at was a small model Reed had built.

"A series of virtual tests that use algorithms based on our knowledge of space and what it does to the human body and what we know of Mars verify that it's completely safe General. There's no need for field testing," Reed assured his Washington sponsor.

"And how'd you manage to wrangle up this crew again?"

"A college promise, and volunteers from my fiance and future brother-in-law." The general looked a little confused, so Reed elaborated: "Ben Grimm is the best pilot I know, and I promised him a few years back when we were both in college that if I ever got this Mars mission going, I'd have him pilot it. And Sue's always taken a great interest in my work, so she volunteered, and her brother Johnny...well...Johnny likes a good thrill, but he's gone through the entry procedures for the F.O.U.R. program. He's capable."

The Foundation for Organization of Undercover Research was Reed's pride and joy. A private organization he'd built with a couple of helpful nudges from the United States government, it was dedicated to the next level of scientific research. And its crowning glory would be this Mars mission. Reed could barely keep still with anticipation.

"Well Richards, everything seems to be in order. Best of luck tomorrow" the General said, extending his hand to Reed. Reed shook it eagerly.

"Thanks General."

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, in the nation of Latveria, evil was afoot.<p>

"And you are positive that everything is ready?" The king asked his servant Boris.

"Positive your Highness," Boris said stooping low to the Royal Castle's stone floor. His master was shrouded in shadow. So dramaticly showy. Boris' master was full of these theatrical quirks, but Boris took it all in stride. "Richards is still unaware that our own F.O.U.R. agents have sabotaged the mission. Tomorrow he and his friends will meet their doom."

* * *

><p>"HERBIE, double check the radiation shielding," Reed said casually as he ran a few equations.<p>

_"Shielding is sufficient for normal space travel, however it would be prudent to avoid radiation. Dr. Richards, I must advise against the use of the C-"_

"Never mind HERBIE," Reed interrupted the robotic assistant. "It will work. I know it."

_"Yes, but-"_

"Thanks HERBIE," Reed interrupted again.

"Reed? Ben's here!" Sue Storm called from the room below Reed's lab.

"Be right down!" Reed called back as he tidied up after himself.

"Ah, no need egghead, I know how you get about this mumbo-jumbo, so I saved ya the trouble!" Ben Grimm's gruff chuckle declared his presence as he grabbed Reed in a bear hug.

"Good to see you too Ben!" Reed choked, laughing as Ben tightened his grip.

"Boys, no roughhousing," Sue jokingly admonished as she entered behind Ben.

"Sorry Suzie," Ben laughed as he let go of Reed to give Sue a hug, although nowhere near as rough as the one he'd given Reed.

"How've you been buddy?" Reed asked as he clapped a hand on Ben's shoulder.

"Ah, you know. Well enough. Not enough action down at NASA if you ask me. This is probably the best thing to happen to me all year." Ben said, running his hand through his army cut hair.

"It is for all of us," Sue assured Ben. "I still can't believe we'll be the first people on Mars!"

"Believe it Sue," Johnny Storm bellowed as he barged into Reed's lab. "Not everyone's cool enough to deal with Mars. I guess you guys'll have to do." Ben clenched his teeth at the teenager's entrance.

"You never said nothin' about him being on the mission!" Ben complained to Reed.

"Well, we were short on time, and he was very eager," Reed explained, almost imploring Ben to understand. The expression on Ben's face was one Reed knew too well: I'll put up with it, but I don't have to like it.

* * *

><p>A palpable buzz surrounded the day of the launch. Reed hadn't slept much the night before despite his best efforts, so Sue had him going on caffeine.<p>

"Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for being here on this momentous occasion!" Reed said excitedly into a microphone situated on a podium near the base of the shuttle. "At long last, we can finally speak openly about what has been a top secret project! This entire endeavor has been kept under close wraps, but especially secret was its power source."

Reed hauled a case to the top of the podium and opened it, taking out a glowing cube.

"This is the Cosmic Cube. It was discovered in Europe at the close of World War II, and its existence has been kept a highly classified secret by various governmental organizations and peace missions. But today, it will fuel our journey to Mars!"

The crowd began buzzing with excitement. Reporters were shouting questions over each other, clamoring to know more. Reed held up a hand, and the crowd fell silent.

"This little cube is quite an enigma," Reed continued. "Even I can't wrap my mind around it completely. But its energies are akin to those of cosmic rays from space. So, the power of space gets us to space!" Reed finished theatrically. The crowd applauded as Reed, Sue, Ben, and Johnny climbed into the shuttle.

"We all ready?" Johnny asked impatiently.

"We should be," Reed said. "Initiating launch!"

"Hang on Reed, shouldn't we double check everything?" Ben asked.

"Don't worry about it, I had HERBIE double check everything last night," Reed assured his friend as he inserted the cube into a slot near the front of the cockpit. He felt a firm hand on his shoulder.

"You let a _machine_ double check?" Ben growled, indignantly. Reed raised his eyebrows.

"I'm hurt Ben! I had him double check my double check! We should be fine!"

"But you programmed him! What if he missed something because you missed it? How do you know that Cube thing isn't going to go nuclear on us?"

"I just know, okay? And you're going to have to trust me," Reed said with an air of finality.

"So then let's launch this sucker!" Johnny hooted. Sue was looking nervously out the window.

"I don't feel so good," She whispered.

"Don't worry Suzie, happens to everyone their first time up," Ben assured her as he slid into the captain's chair. "Once we're up there, you'll feel free as a bird!"

"FOUR to base, we have liftoff in 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, **5, 4, 3, 2, 1**!" The rocket's engines roared to life and the spacecraft lifted into the air.

Johnny hollered and raved like he was on a roller coaster. Ben became more relaxed as the familiarity of a launch swept over him. Susan was also looking more at ease, feeling more like she was on a plane. A plane with an incredibly high cabin pressure and noise level. Reed too was looking thrilled as their craft broke free of the rocket giving them an initial boost out of the atmosphere.

"And we're good to go!" Reed announced. He unstrapped his belt and floated through the cabin, enjoying the zero gravity. Ben, Sue, and Johnny followed suit, becoming familiar with their new environment.

Reed gazed out into space. After years and years of dreaming, he was finally here. He slid his arm around Sue's waist.

"Isn't it beautiful?" He asked.

"Gorgeous," Sue breathed. "Now I wish you'd proposed to me up here!"

"Man, I've never seen the sun look so big!" Johnny said excitedly.

"Well, actually, we're moving away from it," Reed said matter-of-factly. "If anything, it's smaller than you've ever seen."

Johnny shut up, his fun ruined. Ben chuckled to himself. Little brat was finally at a loss for words.

After about twenty minutes of this, a small beep began.

"What is that?" Ben asked, his ears catching the tiny sound first.

"No machinery on this craft makes a noise like that," Reed said, worried as he pulled himself towards the captain's chair. He scanned the control panels looking for the culprit. He found nothing. He quickly booted up the cameras that gave him a view of every inch on the spacecraft for security or emergency purposes.

"There!" Sue pointed. A small glowing disk was attached to the hull near the thrusters.

"That wasn't there before," Reed said simply.

"Wasn't there before?" Ben asked flatly. "You mean your double checking didn't include the blamed ship?"

"Well, no," Reed said sheepishly. "All simulations showed there was nothing wrong with the craft, it was the Cube that was posing questions."

"Well what is it?" Johnny asked, taking a look at the disk.

"It looks like some kind of...gravity manipulator. I've never seen anything quite like it!" Reed said. "It's pushing us off course!"

"We have any lifelines?" Ben asked. "I could get it off."

"No, you wouldn't be able to get close enough, it would push you away, and possibly snap the line," Reed said.

"Well then what do we do?" Sue asked. Reed furrowed his brow in thought. Finally a solution came to him.

"We'll have to abandon the mission, but if we rework the power matrix, we can increase the Cosmic Cube's power to overpower the device pushing us away and get us back to Earth."

"No! No way! We don't have time to double check or calculate doing that! It really could go nuclear on us if we do that!" Ben protested.

"It's our only option, Ben," Reed argued. "It's that or die." Ben glared at his friend, but relented.

"Aw Sweet Aunt Petunia, this ain't gonna end well," he muttered as he strapped his belt on. "Do yer stuff egghead." Reed opened up the slot containing the cube and removed it. Everything in the craft gave a deep hum as it shut down. Reed went to work reworking everything in the power grids. Twenty minutes of drifting through space later, Reed straightened up and put the Cube back.

"Okay, that's it. Everyone hang on tight. This may be a bumpy ride."

Everyone did as Reed said, bracing themselves for the turbulent emergency journey. The craft did a complete 180 and hurtled back towards earth, shaking violently. It was moving faster than ever. Within minutes, they were nearing the atmosphere again.

"So far so good," Reed said, teeth chattering.

"You call this good? We're gonna crash for sure!" Ben grumbled, his hands shaking along with the steering mechanism.

"At least we're not breaking up out here!" Reed reminded him. Suddenly, the control panel began glowing and sparking.

"That's not good!" Reed said rather obviously.

"Reed!" Sue began nervously.

"The Cube is too much for the ship!" Reed said, ashen faced. "I miscalculated!"

"So are we going to blow up?" Johnny asked.

"We won't. The controls on the other hand..." Reed said as smoke started issuing from the front of the cabin. Abruptly, the area of the ship housing the Cosmic Cube exploded. Instantly, the four were blinded by the light that had suddenly filled the ship.

"What is this?" Ben screamed as the light swept over them.

"Energies from the Cube! We're being exposed to Cosmic Rays!" Reed shouted horrified.

"What do we do?" Johnny asked, wrapping his arms around himself in a futile attempt to protect himself.

"There's nothing we can do! Just stay calm!" Reed said, trying very hard to stay calm himself. "Ben, how're you holding up buddy?"

"My arms feel like a ton'a bricks!" Ben complained as his arms shook.

"Well hold on! We're almost to the ground! Can you guide us in an emergency landing?"

"I'll sure's hell try!" Ben said as he used all his strength to pull at the steering mechanism.

"WHOOOOOOOOOOOOAH!" The four shouted as the spacecraft skipped like a stone on water against the ground, finally coming to a halt.

And then it exploded.

Ears ringing, Reed tried to get his bearings. He stood up, legs feeling like jelly.

"SUE! BEN! JOHNNY!" He called, trying to peer through the smoke.

"I'm here, Reed!" Sue called weakly.

"Are you okay?" Reed asked, scrambling over to her, and grabbing hold of her in a relieved embrace.

"I think so. What did you say hit us?" Reed lifted her up and gently carried her away from the wreckage.

"Cosmic rays. Normally they're found in space, but the Cube's energy has identical signatures."

Johnny stumbled out of the plane through the smoke, coughing.

"Man, talk about a thrill ride," he said, laughing between chokes.

"Johnny, did you see Ben in there?" Reed asked. Johnny shook his head.

"Naw, I thought he was blown outside like you two."

Suddenly, a great groaning sound shook the air around them. The spacecraft was falling apart. Then suddenly, a great split appeared in the hull. Something had torn it apart. Reed stood transfixed as a great shape appeared in the smoke.

"Reed, what is that thing?" Sue asked, starting to freak out.

"Whadd're you talkin' about Suzie? It's me!" A gravelly voice asked.

"Oh my god, it's Ben," Reed said.

"'Course it's me, egghead. And I told you something was gonna go wrong!" Ben had come clearly into view. The rays had done their worst to him. Where Ben Grimm should have been standing could only be described as a monster. It was taller and bulkier than Ben had been, and looked like it was composed of orange rock.

"Ben, take a look at yourself," Sue said, voice shaking.

"What're you-?" Ben started to ask before doing what Sue had suggested.

"WHAT DID YOU DO TO ME?" The monster that was Ben roared.

"I didn't do anything!" Reed protested. "Ben, calm down!" Ben wasn't listening. He charged at Reed, only for Reed's body to bend in the most impossible ways. It stretched and wrapped around Ben, trying to hold him in place.

"Good lord, what happened to us?" Reed asked as he saw how his body was stretching like a rubber band.

"You've killed us that's what!" Ben yelled as he struggled and swung his arms, Reed stretching more, tightening around him.

"I am starting to feel a fever coming on," Johnny said, sweat forming on his brow.

"And I'm feeling faint," Sue said, leaning against a tree.

"See? You've given us all some kind of sickness from outer space!" Ben said, still struggling.

"It's getting worse!" Johnny complained. "I'm burning up!" Clearly in agony, Johnny collapsed onto the ground, writhing. All of a sudden, he burst into flame.

"Holy crap!" Ben shouted, shocked into ceasing his struggles.

"Stop drop and roll Johnny!" Sue shouted.

"I- I feel great!" Johnny shouted. "I can't even feel the flames!"

"But we can't get very close," Reed observed, stretching his arm out towards Johnny. "Sue, what about you? Are y- Where'd Sue go?" Reed asked perplexed. Susan was nowhere in sight.

"What are you talking about Reed? I'm right here!" Susan's voice said.

"I should have seen this coming!" Reed said, not sounding very surprised.

"What the hell're you talking about?" Ben asked.

"Well, it's clear that we each correspond to a classical element. Johnny is clearly fire, Ben is earth, I'm water, so it only follows that Sue is as invisible as air."

"But why?" Susan asked as she rematerialized, causing Johnny to jump.

"I don't know," Reed admitted. "We have to get back to the Baxter Building and figure out what happened. First things first," Reed stretched his body towards the wreck and examined it.

"Johnny, do you think you can get rid of these flames?" Reed asked.

"Uh, maybe," Johnny said. He focused on the wreck, willing the flames to go down. After a minute or so of trying, he succeeded.

"What are you doing Reed?" Susan asked.

"Getting the Cube," Reed said. "It's more important than ever now. It may be our only chance at reversing this."

"You want to _reverse_ this?" Johnny asked incredulously.

"Well for Ben's sake, yes," Reed said sheepishly. Ben frowned.

"Don't say I didn't warn you," he said.

"You're right," Reed admitted. "You're absolutely right Ben, this is all my fault."

"Don't worry Reed, I'm sure you'll figure out a way to fix it," Sue consoled Reed. "Let's just get back to New York."

"Yeah," Reed said as a rescue team came over the horizon. "Yeah, I'll fix it if it's the last thing I do."

* * *

><p>Author's Notes: And here's the first Fantastic Four chapter! I like these guys, but it's very hard to write them well. There's something about them that's inherently cheesy. As far as I know, I invented the idea of the Cosmic Cube tying into their origins, although the finding it in Europe part is taken from what's been revealed about Captain America: The First Avenger and Thor. Savvy readers will know exactly who's to blame for the accident. This story won't be drawing too much from the movies, since I really didn't like them. Some of the first arc will, such as the whole "trying to find a cure" bit, but that'll wrap up better than the movie's did. Anyway, Avengers should be out soon, and I'm still struggling with a decision in the next Spider-Man chapter. Read and Review!<p>

Edits: Just some more detail added, fixed some questionable grammar.


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